Rudolf Goclenius the Elder

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Rudolf Goclenius the Elder in the Giessen Professorengalerie
Rudolf Goclenius the Elder Ä. (from Jean-Jacques Boissard's Bibliotheca chalcographica , 1652–1669)
Ink drawing of Rudolf Goclenius as a Marburg professor after an engraving from the 16th century

Rudolf Goclenius the Elder (* March 1, 1547 as Rudolf Gockel (or Göckel) in Korbach , County of Waldeck ; † June 8, 1628 in Marburg ) was professor of philosophy , logic , metaphysics and ethics at the Philipps University of Marburg , who also when witch theorists appeared.

Life

In 1547 he was born as Rudolf Gockel (or Göckel) in Korbach . Here he first attended the city school until 1564 and then began studying in Erfurt , then from 1567 he studied in Marburg . In 1568 he returned to Korbach and taught at his previous school. On April 9, 1570, he married Margaretha Emmerich, whom he may have known well from childhood. On July 31, 1570, he enrolled at the University of Wittenberg , where he acquired a master's degree on March 13, 1571 and held lectures until 1573 . He then returned to his home town of Korbach and headed the city school from 1573 to 1575.

In 1575, Landgrave Wilhelm IV of Hessen-Kassel appointed him as rector of the Kassler Pedagogy . In the meantime he used the Latinized scholar name Goclenius . In Kassel he turned to the philosophical direction of Ramism , named after Petrus Ramus , without completely discarding Melanchthonianism , which he had got to know during his school and study days. This was probably the reason why the Korbach people wanted to lure him back to Korbach in 1580, where the Korbach grammar school had just opened and the aim was to teach according to the Ramic principles. However, the landgrave did not want to lose his scholar and refused to leave, but consented to Goclenius' appointment to Marburg . In 1581 Goclenius accepted the position as professor of philosophy. From 1589 he taught logic and mathematics as a professor, from 1603 he taught logic and ethics.

He worked as a professor until his death on June 8, 1628. Its reputation attracted many students, it conferred around 600 master's degrees. Together with the lawyer Hermann Vultejus , he had a decisive influence on the development of the University of Marburg. Both advised the Landgrave Moritz von Hessen . In 1618 Moritz sent Goclenius with three theologians to the Dordrecht Synod .

Rudolf Goclenius was married three times and had four children. His eldest son Rudolf Goclenius the Younger , also a Marburg university professor, later also became famous as an astrologer .

Scholar

Goclenius was well known in his time and was celebrated as the “Marburg Plato” or “Christian Aristotle”. Today it would almost be forgotten if he had not used and explained the term psychology , which Philipp Melanchthon introduced in one of his lectures, in a printed book very early on . He also receives a certain amount of attention because he was the first to separate ontology from special metaphysics , which, according to him, became established as a common teaching practice in the field of philosophy.

Otherwise he must be regarded as incredibly well-read and versatile, as evidenced by his Physicae completae speculum , but he cannot be ascribed too much intellectual autonomy. His representations often seem too general and nebulous and he too often enjoyed himself in learned gimmicks.

The moon crater Goclenius is not named after him, but after his son Rudolf Goclenius the Younger .

Witch theorists

As a witch theorist , he achieved a certain importance through his speech Oratio de natura sagarum in purgatione et examinatione per frigidam aquis innatantium of 1583, which also appeared in print in 1590. Here he deals with the theory of the water sample . This old judgment of God was carried out again as a " witch bath " in the course of the early modern witch hunt . Now a scholarly dispute arose over their legality. Goclenius argued above all against Wilhelm Adolf Scribonius , who vehemently advocated the legality of the water test in the offense of witchcraft. Goclenius, however, proves to be a follower of the witch's doctrine , who fully agreed with the statements of the witch's hammer .

Fonts

Original editions

  • Oratio de nativa et haereditaria in nobis labe et corruptione, Marburg 1588 ( online ).
  • Psychologia: hoc est, De hominis perfectione, animo et in primis ortu hujus, commentationes ac disputationes quorundam theologorum et philosophorum nostrae aetatis . Marburg 1590.
  • Oratio de natura sagarum in purgatione et examinatione per frigidam aquis innatantium . Marburg 1590 ( digitized from the University of Halle ).
  • Problematum logicorum . 1590.
  • Partitio dialectica . Frankfurt 1595.
  • Isagogue in peripateticorum et scholasticorum primam philosopiam, quae dici consuevit metaphysica . 1598 ( digitized version from the University of Halle ).
  • Institutionum logicarum de inventione liber unus . Marburg 1598.
  • Isagogue in Organum Aristotelis . 1598.
  • Physicae completae speculum . Frankfurt 1604.
  • Dilucidationes canonum philosophicorum . Lich 1604.
  • Controversia logicae et philosophiae, ad praxin logicam directae, quibus praemissa sunt theoremata seu praecepta logica . Marburg 1604
  • Solennis Actus Promotionis XX. Candidatorvm Philosophici Magisterii . Kezelius, Marburg 1608 ( online ).
  • Disputatio De Nihilo, quae non est de nihilo, vagans per omnes disciplinas . Marburg 1608 ( online ).
  • Conciliator philosophicus . 1609.
  • Lexicon philosophicum, quo tanquam clave philosophiae fores aperiuntur, Frankfurt 1613 ( online ).
  • Lexicon philosophicum Graecum, Marburg 1615 ( online ).

Translations

  • Isagogue. Introduction to Metaphysics . Trans. V. Hans Günter Zekl . Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2005.
  • Disputations on natural science (1592). Trans. V. Hans Günter Zekl. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-8260-3660-6 .
  • Ethics exercises. Exercitationes Ethicae (Marburg 1592). Trans. V. Hans Günter Zekl. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2010.
  • Of witches and wise men and seven arts. Three academic speeches given at the University of Marburg between 1583 and 1598. Transl. Hans Günter Zekl. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2012.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Willem van Irhoven (ed.): Canones Synodi nationalis Dordracenae, ofte Oordeel des Synodi nationalis der Gereformeerde Kercken van de Vereenigde Nederlanden: ghehouden in Dordrecht, inden jare 1618 end 1619 . J. H. Vonk van Lynden, Utrecht 1752, pp. 23, 40, 69 and 96 ( Google Books ).
personal data
SURNAME Goclenius, Rudolf the Elder
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Goclenius, Rudolf; Gockel, Rudolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German witch theorist, professor of philosophy, ethics and physics at the University of Marburg
DATE OF BIRTH March 1, 1547
PLACE OF BIRTH Korbach , County of Waldeck
DATE OF DEATH June 8, 1628
Place of death Marburg